LGA calls for review of fire building regulations

The Local Government Association has called for an urgent review of fire building regulations following the catastrophic fire in a warehouse in Warwickshire last week.

The LGA has called on the government to assess the regulations and the need for fire suppression systems to be installed to prevent future incidents.

The current rules mean that new buildings do not have to undertake an assessment as to the need for fire suppression systems like sprinklers.

Les Byrom (Con), chair for fire at the LGA said: “We must all make sure that lessons are urgently learned to reduce the possibility of these sorts of awful events happening again.

“This dreadful turn of events should provide a wake up call to people to ensure that buildings are as protected from widespread fire as possible. Ministers should now instigate an urgent review of building regulations to ensure that the events of this weekend are not repeated,” he added.

A ban on combustible materials on all new high-rise buildings will come into force on 21 December after legislation was laid down in Parliament today, while councils are to be given full support to carry out emergency work to remove cladding from any buildings.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England, has rejected the idea of a uniform national recycling collection scheme, LGC’s sister title Materials Recycling World reports.

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